'A day without immigrants' in MetroWest, Milford area

It was just Mango Araujo and his wife at PTI Insurance Agency on Union Avenue in Framingham, right in the heart of the downtown area.

The door was locked and a sign read “Fechado pelo Dia Sin Imigrante.” The couple sprang from the back of the downtown Framingham space to unlock the door for the Daily News when they explained that their three employees were given the day off.

The insurance agency was one of dozens of immigrant businesses in the MetroWest and Milford areas that joined the nation in observing "A Day Without Immigrants," a national protest against President Donald Trump's recent immigration orders. The protest saw immigrants on Thursday close their businesses, refuse to contribute their money to the local economy and some kept their children home from school.

The message was simple: see how the economy runs without immigrants.

According to the American Immigration Council, the immigrant, Latino and Asian population is integral to the state’s economy.

The demographic wields $35.2 billion in consumer purchasing power, and their businesses had sales and receipts of $9.2 billion and employed more than 65,000 people, according to numbers from the American Immigration Council's website.

In 2013, immigrants comprised nearly 19 percent of the state’s workforce, and unauthorized immigrants made up 3.4 percent of the state’s workforce in 2012. If all were removed from Massachusetts, the state would lose $12 billion in economic activity, according to the council.

There are an estimated 11 million undocumented migrants currently living in the US, according to the Pew Research Center.

Nearly all of Araujo’s customers are immigrants. When word of the protest spread via internet and word of mouth last week into this week, Araujo made the decision to close.

“I felt that this was the right thing to do,” he explained. “It’s important to the community that you support them the best way you can.”

For Araujo and other business owners, that meant shutting down for the day.

Those hoping for freshly-baked Brazilian treats were turned away from all four Padaria Brasil locations in the state: one in Boston, two in Framingham and one in Milford. Signs on the doors read that the locations were closed.

Owner Elias Fernandes said he had a meeting with employees and decided to close the stores Thursday.

“We’re going to lose some money, but we have to do something to help them out,” he said of his customers and employees, most of whom are immigrants.

Down the street at Frescafe in Framingham, a sign informed customers of the store’s observance of the holiday.

“We are an immigrant company,” the sign read. “Any team member who chooses to participate in the national ‘Day Without Immigrant” protest strike has our support.”

Other area stores posted similar signs, some simply said closed, and others had no signs at all, but foot traffic in downtown Framingham and Milford was noticeably less Thursday.

Holli Andrews, executive director of Framingham Downtown Renaissance, was out of state Thursday, but lent her support to the “vibrant” immigrant business community.

“I bet it’s really quiet there,” she said.

Immigrants, she said, are the ones that “make downtown sustainable, exciting and vibrant” along with the longtime family businesses that still occupy spaces in the downtown area.

“I can imagine that a major part of the downtown is missing today,” she said.

Even American institutions were observing the day. The Davis Museum at Wellesley College took down or cloaked immigrant artwork – about 20 percent of the museum’s collection.

According to director Lisa Fischman, the works removed are from artists from 15 different countries. The move is a “form of articulation – an intervention,” she said.

“It proposes a point of view that contradicts the point of view offered by (Trump’s) executive orders,” she said. “I would say it protests a simplification of understanding of immigration.”

In Milford, a “higher than normal number of students” were absent Thursday, according to Superintendent Kevin McIntyre.

While school officials couldn’t be sure that the absences were related to the protest, McIntyre did say the district was aware of the protest in advance.

“We support student and family voice and speech, but we always encourage students to attend school and parents to send their children to school,” McIntyre said. “Diversity is a strength of the Milford Public Schools and we are supportive and welcoming to all of our students and families.”

Others, however, felt that protesting wasn’t the right move. the Rev. Mateus Souza of St. Mary's of the Assumption Parish in Milford, called the protest “foolish.”

Closing businesses and refusing to buy American products for a day isn’t “the right way of showing their love for the country.”

“If (immigrants) want to show something, I think they have to work even harder,” he said, pointing to European immigrants and their willingness to offer their lives in American wars and devote themselves to becoming Americans. “They showed they really love the country.”

When asked for his opinion on the protest, Mike Stopa, a Trump delegate from Holliston, said he wished immigrants “would stay home.”

He said the protest could help identify businesses that hire undocumented immigrants as a means to boycott those businesses.

“Let them know with your dollars and your feet that you’re opposed to people being here illegally,” he said.

When told that area downtowns were noticeably more quiet without immigrant businesses open, he said, “Great, glad to hear it.”

Downtown Milford, however, didn't stay quiet for long.

Dozens of Ecuadoreans – a growing population in Milford – held a demonstration in Draper Park across from the Milford Police Station at about 4 p.m.

“No more deportations,” read one sign. Another held a pole with American and Ecuadorean flags.

Antonio Caguana, one of the demonstrators, kept his children and his grandchildren home from school Thursday. The family’s store didn’t open, either.

Through a translator, he said the group chose the police station, which he said symbolizes the laws of the country. There have also been tensions between the Ecuadorean community and police in the past, he said.

But Caguana wants that all to be put aside. Evident by several American flags held among the crowd of 40 or so demonstrators, Caguana said they just want to be part of society and live “in an ordered way.”

“We’re committed to respecting the laws of the country and live according to the rules of society,” he said.

Zachary Comeau can be reached at 508-634-7556 and zcomeau@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @ZComeau_MDN.

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